And the communal lands were lost. : Agrarian conflicts in the town of Culhuacán, 1777-1805

Abstract

For some towns in the Valley of Mexico, the transfer of their communal properties to private hands took place towards the end of the 18th Century and the beginning of the 19th Century, as was the case of the town of San Juan Evangelista Culhuacán, where its inhabitants were involved in agrarian conflicts with landowners and religious authorities, aimed at rescuing their communal lands. Analysis of the Colonial legislation shows the incapacity of the viceregal authorities to defend the lands of the Indian communities. In addition, mismanagement by some governors of Culhuacán, together with the political context of liberalism at the end of the 18th Century: ideals that went against collective property, also contributed to the reduction of their lands as they were acquired by landowners. As of the 19th Century, these landowners charged the Indian communities a tax for the use of lagoons and lands, thus leaving them in poverty and unprotected from the demands of the new owners of the land.